Accountancy

After Wirecard, EY says auditors should focus more on fraud prevention

Accounting firm sends letter to clients suggesting greater scrutiny of company books, going beyond current accepted practice

Ernst & Young, under fire for missing a suspected fraud that blew up German fintech company Wirecard says auditors should play a bigger role in detecting such wrongdoing, challenging the accounting industry’s longstanding assertion that its job isn’t to seek out malpractice.

“Whilst the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of fraud is with the management and supervisory boards, audits should play more of a role in the future to detect material frauds,” Carmine Di Sibio, chairman and chief executive of EY Global, said in a letter sent out to clients and seen by The Wall Street Journal.

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